Tourism, teachers and the disabled will benefit from Gov. Charlie Crist's decision on Tuesday to preserve nearly $365 million in state spending that lawmakers had proposed cutting this month. ...more

January 28, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist may override the Legislature's decision to suspend the $300 million Florida Forever land conservation program, even as lawmakers prepare to make further state budget cuts this spring. ...more

January 23, 2009

K-12 education lost $466 million. County health departments lost $7.7 million. Pasco County kept $5 million for new businesses. ...more

January 15, 2009

The $2.6 billion package of state budget cuts and funding swaps that lawmakers approved on Wednesday includes the following: ...more

January 15, 2009

About $400,000 for conservation land purchases in Highlands County this year will be lost if, as expected, the state legislature suspends the state's Florida Forever land conservation program. ...more

January 13, 2009

The state Senate wants to suspend the Florida Forever land conservation program six months, effectively abandoning dozens of land purchases already in the works, including several in the Tampa Bay area. ...more

January 9, 2009

Environmentalists are reeling from the Senate's decision to axe Florida Forever funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. The proposal would mean canceling issuance of $250 million in bonds, which would have supported Florida's purchase of environmentally sensitive land around the state. ...more

January 8, 2009

When we think of what kind of country we wish to leave our children and grandchildren, we probably would rather not hand down a nation bereft of its natural wonders with its once-abundant resources depleted, gone forever. We need places such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, the Arctic Refuge and the Grand Canyon, just as they are, for future generations of Americans to marvel at, as we have had the good fortune to do. ...more

August 17, 2008

Efforts to place on the 2008 ballot a property tax to help the county conserve environmentally sensitive lands appeared to be dead late Wednesday afternoon after its backers conceded to a county advisory commission that the worsening economy would dampen its support. ...more

August 1, 2008

Supporters of Hillsborough County's land conservation program know they face challenges in getting voters to renew a tax to purchase undeveloped land. ...more

July 17, 2008